Of Books and Women

Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet

2011-10-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

Daniel Tammet is the man who can recite pi to more than 25,000 places. You may have heard of him on the news or in your science or math classes. He is an autistic savant who also has Aspergers syndrome. Since this book is written by him, it is a picture of how his mind works and his life day to day.

At the Book Club meeting, we shared bangers and mash with salad, plenty of wine and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and bundtlings (mini bundt cakes) for dessert.

It was another intellectual evening with the ladies as we discussed the rise of autism numbers and the suspected causes. We wondered whether we are on the cusp of changing to a race of humans that are less emotional and use more of our temporal lobes or if we are poisoning ourselves and our children with our highly processed diet of dyes and preservatives. We discussed if it is a global change or if as time goes on our race with split into two: one highly developed, highly educated, less connected to family and one another and one less developed, less educated but highly connected through relationships and family. We have no answers obviously but it was a rousing discussion.

We also talked about mothers and their role in children's lives how women are perceived now versus in the 50's or the 80's. We discussed the unspoken competition between mothers and whether or not that can ever be overcome. I always love the discussions at Book Club, whether they directly pertain to the book or not.

ROOM by Emma Donahue

2011-10-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

"In many ways, Jack is a typical 5-year-old. He likes to read books, watch TV, and play games with his Ma. But Jack is different in a big way--he has lived his entire life in a single room, sharing the tiny space with only his mother and an unnerving nighttime visitor known as Old Nick. For Jack, Room is the only world he knows, but for Ma, it is a prison in which she has tried to craft a normal life for her son. When their insular world suddenly expands beyond the confines of their four walls, the consequences are piercing and extraordinary. Despite its profoundly disturbing premise, Emma Donoghue's Room is rife with moments of hope and beauty, and the dogged determination to live, even in the most desolate circumstances. A stunning and original novel of survival in captivity, readers who enter Room will leave staggered, as though, like Jack, they are seeing the world for the very first time. --Lynette Mong"

This book was incredible! One of those that hooks you in and, unless you can read it from cover to cover in one sitting, it haunts you every time you step away. Honestly, this book will haunt you anyway. I was amazed that the author could tell such a chilling story all from the perspective of five year old Jack. It is from our adult life experience that we can fill in the gaps that round out this nightmare. The story, however chilling and sad, is truly about survival and true motherhood. Jack's mother is the definition of Mother..... tough, inventive, creative, patient, protective, sacrificial, human.... this novel is definitley worth the read.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

2011-10-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

This was one of the Book Club meetings that was more about the food than the book. We had spicy asian soup, miso soup, steamed and fried rice, salad, bbq steak and mochi. We agreed that the book was good but it could have been great. The end of the book had an interview with the author and he stated that he wanted to write a love story not a deeply historical novel. He accomplished that but even the love story was wrapped up a little to neatly. I personally prefer more realistic endings and I admire authors who have the chutzpah to write them.

The book follows a Chinese boy who befriends a Japanese girl during World War II. She and her family are taken away to an internment camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I found the locations of the internment camps personally interesting because my parents lived in Puyallup, WA for a while. I have been to those fairgrounds with my kids, blindly unaware that those same grounds were used at that time to hold Japanese American families during the war. It was an sad and interesting time in our history and it wasn't all that long ago.

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

2011-10-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

"Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did." So begins the story of Lily Casey Smith, Jeannette Walls's no nonsense, resourceful, and spectacularly compelling grandmother. By age six, Lily was helping her father break horses. At fifteen, she left home to teach in a frontier town -- riding five hundred miles on her pony, alone, to get to her job. She learned to drive a car ("I loved cars even more than I loved horses. They didn't need to be fed if they weren't working, and they didn't leave big piles of manure all over the place") and fly a plane. And, with her husband Jim, she ran a vast ranch in Arizona. She raised two children, one of whom is Jeannette's memorable mother, Rosemary Smith Walls, unforgettably portrayed in The Glass Castle.

Lily survived tornadoes, droughts, floods, the Great Depression, and the most heartbreaking personal tragedy. She bristled at prejudice of all kinds -- against women, Native Americans, and anyone else who didn't fit the mold. Rosemary Smith Walls always told Jeannette that she was like her grandmother, and in this true-life novel, Jeannette Walls channels that kindred spirit. Half Broke Horses is Laura Ingalls Wilder for adults, as riveting and dramatic as Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa or Beryl Markham's West with the Night. Destined to become a classic, it will transfix audiences everywhere."

I loved this book! Lily is just a kick in the pants! I am so glad she wasn't my mother but I loved reading about her. She was tough and smart and tenacious. I highly recommend this book and its predecessor, The Glass Castle.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

2011-10-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

The story in this novel is monotonous and seems labored, it is another story of suburban angst and emptiness. The author writes from the perspective of different characters but every voice sounds the same. So, surprisingly the discussion the night of Book Club was lively and intense. We focused on the character of Walter who some said was a laughable buffoon while others argued that he was the character through which the author lectured his own political beliefs. The thing with Walter though was his statistics on world population. The rest of the night was spent contemplating his numbers and scenarios.

I stated that if his numbers are correct and the world population is going to continue to grow exponentially then we will run out of water and here's why. If the amount of water on planet earth is set, all of the water that is here is the amount of water that has ever been here or will ever be here. And, if each person is made up of 80% or more of water, not counting the amount needed to sustain life, then the sheer number of walking water vessels on the planet will use up the supply. The argument in the book is to create a "no growth" movement. (Hmmmm, didn't Jacques Cousteau have that idea at one point...) but we argued that it is the most educated and affluent members of society who would choose not to have children. Then, one of us said that it didn't matter because science would take care of the gap in food and water. Another stated that the earth can only sustain so many lives and there would be a massive die-off either of starvation or pandemic. We went on to discuss our role in caring for the world (both the planet and the people on it). As I said it was a lively and intense conversation. So, mediocre book, great conversation.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

2011-07-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

This book has been an astounding shock to my way of life in very good ways. While I don't necessarily buy all of the global warming propaganda, I can appreciate the need to buy local for many reasons. Peppered with interesting statistics about our food industry, I found the most interesting to be the statement that our children's generation is the first to have a shorter life expectancy than the previous generation. What!?! I consider myself to be somewhat knowledgable about healthy food choices but in reading this book I realized how much I don't know. Now, I have been on the hormone/antibiotic/pesticide free bandwagon for awhile but what I had never considered was the ridiculous amount of money and petroleum spent to make every fruit or vegetable available to me year round. Believe it or not eating what's in season has never been something I paid much attention to. But it makes sense, if I buy local and what is in season then I am eliminating not only the waste of gas (and lining the pockets of the big oil companies) but probably buying and eating what my body and my kids bodies need during that time of year. What a concept! The biggest life changing information for me though was the thought that I would be helping big oil to continually line their pockets with my money when I buy stuff shipped here from all over the world. So, I have decided that the best way I can make a difference is to buy at the very least Made in the USA, better California Grown and best from the farmers at my local market. Very interesting read. I don't think I can do what she does and farm all of my needs from veggies and fruits to eggs and poultry but I will try to make my choices count towards the kind of world I want my children and grandchildren to grow up in.

Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

2011-07-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

Continuing my foray into the realm of teen supernatural romance are Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater. Grace and Sam find one another in Shiver. Grace is a girl who is fascinated by the wolves in the forest behind her house until she realizes that there is one she loves and who loves her back. Sam remembers Grace from the woods and from his time as a wolf. During the winter, Sam becomes a wolf and runs the woods with his pack but he is drawn again and again to the woods behind Grace's house. Sam and Grace's new found love is a race against time, winter and a possible cure for Sam's changes.
In Linger, Sam and Grace fight to stay together but Grace has a dangerous secret of her own. We'll find out how it all turns out in Forever...coming soon. I like the series so far, it is something I would have read and loved as a teenager.

"Vampires are sooo....two years ago!"

2011-07-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

One of the highschool girls who frequents my library uttered this insightful phrase and so I perused the vast realm of supernatural teen romance novels. Apparently, it's all about fallen angels and Nephilim now. The Nephilim are the offspring of fallen angels and humans briefly mentioned in the Old Testament.
Well, there is nothing biblical about this trilogy by Lauren Tate but it is entertaining in a dark, twisty high school kind of way. An interesting alternative to glittering vampires and overheated werewolves.

Here are the descriptions of the individual stories:

FallenThere's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.TormentHell on earth.

That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.
At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?

The second novel in the addictive Fallen series... where love never dies.
Passion
Luce would die for Daniel.

And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn't need to be that way....

Luce is certain that something - or someone - in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime, going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel... and to finally unlock the key to making their love last.
Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history.Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames . . . forever. Sweeping across centuries, PASSION is the third novel in the unforgettably epic FALLEN series.

Back to Books....again.

2011-07-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it has been almost an entire year since I have written anything here. What a sad testament to the state of my reading affairs during the school year. Once again, I vow to do better...to read more, write more and stay current with my beloved Book Club website.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

2010-08-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

After the movie starring Johnny Depp came out recently, I was talking with a friend about the original story. I knew I had read it a few times as a child and I recognized the ephemoral and dreamy quality in the movie but I was certain the story was not the same as the book at all. He assured me that the story in the movie was the same except for some minor differences and of course I had to re-read it and find out for myself. The movie was in no way like the book except for the main characters....Alice, The Red Queen, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, etc. However, the situations were entirely different. I think the screenplay for the movie must have been written using the poem "Jabberwocky" from the book since it is the only time the JubJub bird, the Bandersnatch, the Jabberwocky, slaying the Jabberwocky, frabjous day or the vorpal sword are ever mentioned and upon which the entire movie is based. Well, enough about the movie. The book was as dreamy and silly as I remembered. It would be like waking from a very bizarre dream and writing it all down which is why I must have liked it as a child.
There is a new childrens book trilogy by Frank Beddor which begins with a book called The Looking Glass Wars in which Wonderland is not an imagined fantasy world but real. The new Alyss is heir to the throne of the Red Queen when her murderous Aunt Redd kills Alyss' parents and steals the throne. Alyss escapes with the Hatter but they are seperated while fleeing to our world through the Pool of Tears. Alyss is lost and alone in Victorian England. The Hatter is searching every corner of our world to find Alyss and return her home to Wonderland so she may battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts. I think it sounds interesting and puts a whole new twist on the original Alice's story.

Drawing in the Dust by Zoe Klein

2010-07-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

From the back cover: "Brilliant archaeologist Page Brookstone has toiled at Israel's storied battlegrounds of Megiddo for twelve years, yet noneof the ancient remnants she has unearthed deliver the life-altering message she craves. Which is why she risks her professional reputation when a young Arab couple begs her to excavate beneath their home. Ibrahim and Naima Barakat claim the spirits of two lovers overwhelm everyone who enters with love and desire. As Page digs, she makes a miraculous discovery - the bones of deeply troubled prophet Jeremiah locked in eternal embrace with a mysterious woman. Buried with the entwined skeletons is a collection of scrolls that challenge centuries-old interpretations of the prophet's story and create a worldwide fervor. Caught in a forbidden romance of her own, and under siege from religious zealots and relentless critics, Page endangers her life to share the lover's story with the world. But in doing so, she discovers she must let go of her own painful past."

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was interesting and imaginative, similar to The Red Tent in that it is biblical fiction. I use the term biblical very loosely. While the bones discovered in the book are of the prophet Jeremiah and the author, who is a progressive female rabbi, obviously knows her Old Testament I found I was having to set aside my own knowledge and beliefs in order to enjoy this work of fiction. The author has a flowery, lyrical writing style that was beautiful to read but a little unbelievable coming out of every character's mouth. All in all it was a good book. I would recommend it, it is definitely different but worthwhile.

Catching Up

2010-07-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

So many months have gone by that I feel the need to catch up a little bit before we continue. A little re-formatting, some new pictures, etc.

I left off at Lunch in Paris in February. In March we met for The Adventures of Miles and Isabel at Barbara's house. The meal was Australian theme with Shrimp on the Barbie and other classic Australian dishes. The group felt that something must have been lost in the translation from Australian culture to American because it just seemed as if we were missing important australian cultural experiences to fully appreciate the novel.

In April we met at Jen's house for My Name is Asher Lev. Of course the food theme was Jewish. Everyone seemed to like the book and a few expressed interest in reading the sequel which published 20 years later. Hopefully we will hear more about Asher in the future.

May's Book, The Hunger Games was celebrated at Karie's house with lots of salad and other natural food choices. The book was well liked and currently most of us have read the sequel Catching Fire and a few of us are anxiously awaiting the last intallment of the trilogy Mockingjay which will be released August 24 of this year.

In June we took a break from group choices and each read and shared our Beach Reads for the month of June. It was a small meeting at Tracy's house with classic summer fare including sliders, baked beans, caprese salad, potato salad, and summery wine and cocktail choices. It was nice to see everyone relax and share their mostly erotic summer reading choices.

This month we are reading When Elephants Weep, our Animal genre selection. The genres for the rest of the year include Award Winner, Banned Book, Horror/Sci-fi and Comedy/Humor. Currently we have read 50 books together since the inception of Book Club in January 2006. If you ever want to know all of the titles we have read so far, simply check out the column of books to the right.

Sorry to be so remiss in chronicling our book journeys together. I'll try to stay on top of things better. Happy Summer to all of you! Keep Reading!

Patriot Ball Puppy Basket

2010-03-12T16:19:00.000-08:00

Update on the Puppy Basket we put together for the Patriot Ball, the fundraiser dinner for Temecula Preparatory School. It sold for $220. Thank you to all who participated. The school and I appreciate your generosity.

Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard

2010-03-12T16:08:00.000-08:00

It was unanimous, this Book Club Meeting was by far the best food yet. The way people arrived and how the food came out of the oven, it turned out to be a course meal...we ate and talked and laughed from 7:30 to 9:30. The phrase by the end of the night was "fetch me a bucket!" We started with escargot (everyone was brave and sampled at least one), then we had Mushroom Turnovers and some amazing herbed brie and baguette, a fresh palate cleansing Tabouleh salad with fresh squeezed grapefruit dressing, Chicken and Pepper Stew served over roasted red potatoes, Honey Rosemary Pork ribs, then we had homemade Coconut Macaroons, a spiced apple turnover, yougurt cake and individual molten chocolate lava cakes with plenty of French wine. It was a night to remember.

The book was okay. The recipes in the book were amazing. It was interesting to note the differences in French and American culture. Once again, a great evening out with the ladies!

January Book Club Meeting

2010-03-12T15:57:00.000-08:00

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

To start the year off with a bang we chose one of the books from the Book Exchange in December. It turned out to be a good choice. I personally like Margaret Atwood's writing style and thought the book was thought provoking and just controversial enough to prompt a good discussion. In The Year of the Flood we are introduced to two former members of an ecologically aware organization, called God’s Gardeners, that melds science and religion. The Gardners preach non-violence, resourcefulness and respect for all living things, but are dismissed by others as a “greenie cult.” Toby is a longtime member-turned-health spa worker, and Ren is a young exotic dancer. The “Waterless Flood”–a deadly plague foretold by the Gardners–has arrived, destroying most of the human life. Toby, Ren and other survivors must find each other in the aftermath of this disaster, and Atwood takes us along as they explore their present and remember their pasts.

As always, the meeting was a blast. We had great food, including some "secret burgers" and spent the evening laughing so hard we almost sent Lori into labor!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2010-02-07T17:05:00.000-08:00

I picked this book up at a 2nd hand bookstore, based on the blurb on the back. I went into it knowing absolutely nothing about it. It is the story of Liesel Meminger, an illiterate nine year old girl, who is completely changed when she learns to read. She becomes an efficient thie
f, along with her best friend Rudy. The book is narrated by Death, who is fascinated with her, and finds time to watch her, in spite of the punishing workload WWII is providing him. It is the most innovative book I have read, maybe ever. It is an original story, brilliantly written. There are moments of humor, revenge, gore, and real true pure love. I did not realize until I finished the book that it was intended for a Young Adult audience. I would recommend it cautiously to most teenagers, but heartily to all adults. Reading this book was an unequaled pleasure.

Her Fearful Symmetry

2009-12-28T13:52:00.000-08:00

When Elspeth dies, she leaves her London area apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These girls are American and have never met their aunt, who also happened to be their mother's twin. The only rule Elspeth sets for the twins to get the apartment is that their parents can never set foot in the place and after a year of living there, they can sell it or do what they want. Julia and Valentina are about 20yrs old and have been to several colleges and have dropped out of each one, they do not have any drive or determination to get on with their lives, they are very happy living at home in a suburb of Chicago. They go to live in the apartment which is on the other side of the wall from Highgate Cemetery. They meet their neighbors along with their aunt's lover who also lives in the building. This book is about sisters, mothers, love, hate, live and death. It is also a ghost story which seems right since it is set next door to a cemetery. There are a couple of twists, one you can figure out pretty easily, the second one you sit back and think to yourself, man, that's f'd up. I liked it, but it is no Time Traveler's Wife.

My Horizontal Life, A Collection of One-night Stands by Chelsea Handler

2009-12-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

Let me just say, I love Chelsea Handler. I think she's hilarious. I don't know if that biased me towards this book, maybe, but probably not. I laughed out loud reading this book. It is what it says it is, short essays and stories of her various sexual dalliances. If you are offended by vagina, big penis, little penis, midgets, drugs and vodka, this is not your kind of book. She writes like she is in the room talking to you, telling you the story of her latest night out. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I could relate to more than one of the stories. It really is an easy read, and a nice palliate cleanser after Push.

Push by Sapphire

2009-12-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

The movie that is out right now, Precious, is based on this book. I haven't seen the movie, but the book is pretty intense. It follows Precious Jones, and illiterate 16yr old who is pregnant with her second child by her father. She is kicked out of school in part to her pregnancy and sent to an alternative school where she meets a teacher who inspires her to learn to read and write her feelings down in a journal. She also meets classmates who don't judge her or her situation. Through Precious and her journal, we learn about her home life, the repeated rapes by her father and the brutal abuse by her mother. Since it is Precious' story and her words, the language and text is not something we are used to seeing, she should be in the twelf' grade but she is in the ninfe grade, she likes her maff class.

I think I was expecting more because the movie has gotten such acclaim, but it was a good book and grabbed you within the first few pages. It isn't a big novel, but the subject matter is such that it isn't an easy read. It is intense, brutal, repulsive, ugly, depressing, and compelling. I think the thing that really got me was that even though this is a work of fiction, I know that sh*t like this happens more that we want to admit.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

2009-12-13T16:00:00.001-08:00

This book was intense! In a time after the Second Civil War which was fought between the pro-lifers and the pro-choicers, there is now the Bill of Life which states that life is inviolable from conception until the age of 13. Once a child has reached thirteen years they may be retroactively aborted by unwinding. This satisfied both sides because the Unwinds life does not technically end because all of their parts are distributed among others who need or can afford them. This story follows three Unwinds who have escaped and are simply trying to live until their eighteenth birthdays when they can no longer be lawfully unwound.

This book is incredible. It is difficult to read because of the subject matter and impossible to put down at the same time. Even with the terrifying story I would highly recommend it. It is in the same league as The Giver by Lois Lowery and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Wow!

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

2009-12-13T15:51:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a look at teenage suicide through the eyes of the deceased. Hannah has committed suicide and she has thirteen reasons why she chose to end her young life. She has made audio tapes and mailed them to her "reasons" in order of their influence. We spend the night with Clay as he listens to her tapes and remember how viscous and cutthroat high school can be. Two things struck me while reading this book: 1) I never heard a good enough reason for her to commit suicide, is there ever one? and 2) I wish I had known as a teenager what I know now and simply ignored all of the gossip and backstabbing, I would have been much happier. It is an interesting book. I definitely would have picked this one up in high school.

Book Exchange/The Christmas List

2009-12-07T15:57:00.000-08:00

I think we all agreed that The Christmas List was a trite piece of trash but we were thankful in the busyness of the season that it was a quick, easy read.

The Book Exchange and Potluck was AMAZING!!! The food, the company, the hilarity! You ladies are all incredible! We had some of the most amazing food...Shrimp Scampi, Antipasto platters, artichoke dip, italian sausage and peppers, spagetti, bruschetta, french bread, wine, tiramasu, coconut cake, gingerbread...it was all wonderful! I am sure I forgot something but I know it was all delicious!

I am looking forward to another incredible year. Look to the left for the new list of Book Genres for the year. That's right, I said it, g-e-n-r-e...deal with it! Ciao!

Joy School by Elizabeth Berg

2009-12-07T15:42:00.001-08:00

Do you ever sit down to read a book and decide to like it before you even read the first page? I did this with Joy School. It is written from the perspective of a 13 year old girl who moves to a new school and falls in love with an older man. Her love is unrequited and never once through the entire book did I question that the story wasn't written by a thirteen year old. I liked this book. It isn't earth shattering but Berg is an insightful and comfortable writer which made this story enjoyable.

Shrimp Scampi Gambino Style

2009-12-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

Sorry, but I don't have a picture of the scampi. I do have a picture of the cover of the book I got the recipe from, The Mafia Cookbook, by Joseph "Joe Dogs" Iannuzzi. This is more than a cookbook, it is full of stories both inside and outside the mafia, he eventually testifies in eleven different mob trials and goes into the witness protection program. These recipes are tested on the mobsters and the FBI agents assigned to protect Joe. It's a fun book! This recipe he made for Anthony "Fat Andy" Ruggiano, a Gambino capo, Checko Brown, a Colombo family soldier, and Skinny Bobby DeSimone, who after eatting this could no way be skinny! Here is the gut busting buttery goodness that is Shrimp Scampi Gambino Style:

2lbs shrimp

3/4lb (3 sticks, yikes!) softened butter

3 shallots chopped fine

4 cloves garlic , crushed & chopped fine (I used a few more)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2tbls chopped fresh parsley (I used basil instead)

1/2c plain bread crumbs

1 egg yolk

2tsp Red Devil hot sauce (I used Franks Red Hot)

Salt & pepper to taste

Clean & devein shrimp, place them in a large flat pan. Mix butter, shallots, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, bread crumbs, egg yolk, hot sauce & salt/pepper in bowl (I used my hands). Spoon over raw shrimp. Place under broiler for 3-5min, checking occasionally so they do not overcook. Spoon excess melted sauce (BUTTER!) over shrimp & serve. I warmed this up the next day over pasta...mmmm, butter & shrimp & pasta & wine....

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

2009-11-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

This book was in the running for our mystery selection in October so it has been on my radar and I've seen it at Target for a while. The synopsis on BN says: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue.It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age—and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it—who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism—and an unexpected connection between themselves.

This book starts out a little too slow for my liking but eventually picks up. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Lisbeth. I wanted to know more about her and why she is the way she is. The novel can be a bit graphic at times when dealing with a murder scene and leaves you with some unanswered questions about motivation for the crime and Lisbeth, she's the biggest mystery to me. I'm hoping that The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second book in the trilogy, gives some answers and insight to Lisbeth. One side note, the author, Stieg Larsson, wrote all three books, turned in the manuscripts to the publisher, then died of a heart attack a few days later so he never saw his words published and to the acclaim they were received. I'll have this at the next book club to submit to the underground.

Fanny Hill Meeting

2009-11-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

Book of erotica from the 1700's - $10
One penis cake complete with blue veins and vermillion head - $10
Petticoats for all to throw over their heads - $40
Night of hilarity with the ladies of Book Club - PRICELESS

The Book of Lost Things

2009-10-12T14:58:00.001-07:00

BN synopsis: High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own -- populatedby heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

When I first picked this book up, I thought it was maybe a book for young adults, but couldn't find the YA on the book. I then saw that this book won the Alex Award in 2007 which honors adult books that appeal to teen readers. I can see how it would appeal to teens, it takes all the fairy tales we grew up with and twists them into what David, the main character, imagines them to be if they were real. In his fantasy world, Snow White is extremely fat and the dwarfs feel oppressed by 'her' and call themselves Comrade Brother One, Two, Three, etc... It is a little violent and would recommend this for adults and about 8th/9th grade and beyond and has a surprisingly sweet ending.

The Know-It-All

2009-10-12T14:24:00.001-07:00

I'm sure we all remember the set of Encyclopedia Britannica's on the book shelf in the back of our 5th grade class room when we had to do our first research paper on a country and their import/exports, I know I do. A.J. Jacobs, the author/subject of The Know-It-All, takes the Britannica and all the knowledge within, and sets about with a singular goal, to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A-Z, about 33,000 pages. The synopsis from BN: Early in his career, A. J. Jacobs found himself putting his Ivy League education to work at Entertainment Weekly. After five years he learned which stars have fake boobs, which stars have toupees, which have both, and not much else. This unsettling realization led Jacobs on a life-changing quest: to read the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica, all 33,000 pages, all 44 million words. Jacobs accumulates useful and less-so knowledge, and along the way finds a deep connection with his father (who attempted the same feat when Jacob's was a child), examines the nature of knowledge vs. intelligence, and learns how to be rather annoying at cocktail parties. Part memoir/part-education (or lack thereof), it's an entertaining (and alphabetical) look at the true nature of knowledge.

I really enjoyed this book, it was out loud funny and an easy read. Jacobs really does go through from A-Z, letting the reader know about a-ak (the first word) while giving us his thoughts on the words, information he learns and insight as to what is going on in his own life as he goes through the books. I recommend this book and will bring it to the underground.

The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine by Benjamin Wallace

2009-09-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

From B&N: “Part detective story, part wine history, this is one juicy tale, even for those with no interest in the fruit of the vine. . . . As delicious as a true vintage Lafite.” —BusinessWeek

The Billionaire’s Vinegar tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it. Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players—from the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle. Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries.

This book is an interesting peek into the world of wine, old wine and the lengths people will go to obtain a piece of history. I learned more about wine from this book than I will probably ever need to know. I personally cannot imagine paying thousands of dollars for bottles of wine either for drinking or display. I have tried some very expensive wines at dinners with my husband. Though I have not tried 200 year old - $156,000 wine, in my opinion, an $800 bottle of wine can taste just as good/bad as a $10 bottle of wine. I think this was one of the points of the book. If you believe that wine tastes better because it costs more, then it does taste better...to you. It is the author's belief, and mine as well that things like wine are meant for enjoying. And, mysteries about wine should be enjoyed too. However, I prefer a smoking gun (cork?) at the end of a mystery, this ending was a little to ambiguous for me. If you like wine, I would recommend this book simply for the information and the history, Wallace does a great job explaining every detail.

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

2009-09-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

Drowning Ruth opens in 1919, on the heels of the influenza epidemic that followed the First World War. Amanda, who is a nurse suffering from an unknown ailment causing nausea and frequent "nervous" episodes, returns home to live with her sister Mathilde on a farm by Lake Nagawaukee in Wisconsin. Within a year, though, her beloved sister drowns under mysterious circumstances. And when Mathilde's husband, Carl, returns from the war, he finds his small daughter, Ruth, in Amanda's tenacious grip, and she will tell him nothing about the night his wife drowned. Amanda's parents, too, are long gone. "I killed my parents. Had I mentioned that?" muses Amanda.

"I killed them because I felt a little fatigued and suffered from a slight, persistent cough. Thinking I was overworked and hadn't been getting enough sleep, I went home for a short visit, just a few days to relax in the country while the sweet corn and the raspberries were ripe. From the city I brought fancy ribbon, two boxes of Ambrosia chocolate, and a deadly gift... I gave the influenza to my mother, who gave it to my father, or maybe it was the other way around."

I liked this mystery. The author is very good at releasing small breadcrumbs of truth along the way but saves the answer to the mystery of whether Amanda killed her sister until the very last page. I would recommend this book on a cold, blustery day with a fire and a nice, hot cup of tea.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2009-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

I was really looking forward to reading this book, especially since the first sentence is, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." I was looking for fast paced action packed Austen. Instead, I got an agonizingly slow moving read. The scenes with the zombies, or 'unmentionables', and how Elizabeth and Mr Darcy fight the zombies are fun as they are both trained in 'the deadly arts'. There are a few lines that had me snicker but they are few and far between. I can totally see this becoming a movie. I also saw that later this month the same publisher is coming out with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monster. I think I'll skip that one.

Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey

2009-09-09T13:09:00.001-07:00

I was initially hesitant to pick this book up because the controversial author, James Frey, wrote A Million Little Pieces which was heart wrenching 'memoir' of addiction and rehab that blurred the lines between fact and fiction. I read a review of this novel (it really is a novel) when it first came out and the reviewer liked it. The New York Times - Janet Maslin,
"The million little pieces guy was called James Frey. He got a second act. He got another chance. Look what he did with it. He stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park. No more lying, no more melodrama, still run-on sentences still funny punctuation but so what. He became a furiously good storyteller this time."

This is a fast paced quick read. Frey tells several stories about the people who live in Los Angeles. From a young couple from the Midwest escaping west, to a homeless alcoholic on the Venice Boardwalk who lives in a bathroom, to a iconic movie star whose homosexuality is hidden from public view. The author also interweaves stories or history of Los Angeles, from the founding in 1781 through the Rodney King riots. Living in LA for years, several of the locations and people were familiar to me and some of the stories stayed with me for a few days and left me wanting more.

Passing the torch

2009-09-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

DiscoSplitz (a.k.a. Tracy) will be taking over authorship of the blog for a while. Otherwise, we'll never get updated on Book Club Meetings, Book Picks, etc.

Love you all - Burpykitty (a.k.a. Michelle or Library Mistress as Bethany calls me)

The Girl from Junchow by Kate Furnivall

2009-08-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

The Girl from Junchow is the sequel to The Russian Concubine. The plot of this novel has been woven into Stalinist Russia and the way the author portrays the time period is incredible. The book continues the struggles of Lydia, a teenage Russian refugee brought up in 1920's China, as she returns to Russia in search of her imprisoned father. She is accompanied by her half-brother Alexei and friend Liev. Her Chinese lover from the first book becomes a much more believable character in this book. There are also numerous secondary characters which Furnivall develops well. All in all a great historical fiction.

Highwire Moon by Susan Straight

2009-07-23T07:39:00.000-07:00

This book had me from the moment I opened it. It is the story of a young Mexican-Indian girl, Serafina who in California illegally. Due to her inability to speak Spanish or English, (she speaks an Indian dialect) she is violently separated from her beloved three year old daughter, Elvia. The story picks up, 15 years later with Elvia, pregnant, and desperate to find her mother. She thinks her mother left her because she didn't want her anymore. At the same time Serafina is trying to find the daughter she has never stopped thinking about.

Susan Straight writes so compellingly that we are willing to look at things we would normally never want to see. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, although I know it is a bit bleak for some readers. I would encourage even them to read it because of the hope and love that permeates this book.

The descriptions of migrant camps and border crossings make you feel as though you are there. I have no idea how the author got some of the details she put into the book.

The book is set in South Riverside County. Readers from this area will recognize many landscape markers, and the Indian tribes names.

I knew instinctively how this book would end. I was right and wrong at the same time. You will be to, no matter how you think it will end.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

2009-07-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Aaaahh...Book Club. What a wonderful evening! We had, for the first time in a long time, every member present...oops, except our newest member Meredith but we have only met her once. You all know what I mean! The theme for Something Wicked... was Carnival. We had warm pretzels with mustard, spicy-candied pecans, apples with caramel dip, hot dogs and french fries, pinwheel pasta salad, green salad with fruit, roasted corn on the cob, Lynchburg Lemonades and Peanut Butter/Chocolate Fudge. Everything was delicious, of course!
The Book? It was well-liked by everyone, some more than others. There were a few of us who found it hard to get into but enjoyed it anyway. I personally loved this story. I thought it was creepy and scary but poetic and beatifully written at the same time. We all agreed that it would have been a better choice for October but...cest la vie. As always, we all had a wonderful time! As Bethany put it,"this is home."

Ophelia by Lisa Klein

2009-07-09T16:55:00.001-07:00

As a college professor, Lisa Klein the author of Ophelia had taught Shakespeare's Hamlet countless times. She always thought that one of the minor characters, Ophelia, was shortchanged by Shakespeare on her character development. With her novel Ophelia she has told a new version of Hamlet with a smart, eloquent, brave heroine at its center. She gives the story a new twist and new insight into a possible turn of events.
I loved this story! It was very well-written, in an old, poetic style but more understandable than the original Shakespeare. It wasn't a suprise twist, I could tell where the author was going with the story but I still enjoyed every page. This is no child's story, I would recommend this book for 9th grade through adult.

Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes

2009-07-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

Many of us know and love Kevin Henkes as the hilarious author/illustrator of Childrens Picture Books likeLilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Owen, Julius: the Baby of the World, etc. With Olive's Ocean Henkes ventures into tween fiction and does a good job. The main character in this book is Martha, a girl whose life and perspective changes after Olive, a classmate of Marthas, dies in a tragic accident. Although Martha and Olive were never really friends, Martha can't seem to stop thinking about her over summer vacation. While Martha spends time with her grandmother and her friends at the ocean she learns a great deal about life, love and friendship. With Olive's Ocean,Henkes has managed to capture the essence of a tweens girl's mind. I liked this book. It wasn't earth shattering or life changing but it was a good read. I think any 6th through 8th grade girl might enjoy this story.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

2009-07-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

Re-read this one because the movie is coming out the 15th of this month and I wanted to remember what happened to compare. So far the Harry Potter movies have closely matched the books. Rowling's writing just got better and better with each book. It was just as entertaining and fast paced the second time around. If you haven't read the series, I recommend it. It gets especially good at Book #4.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

2009-07-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

I heard about this book years ago when it was first published. I read "A Handmaids Tale" and "Alias Grace" by the same author and enjoyed them. The Blind Assassin won many awards including the Booker Prize. I made a point to get it from the library a while ago. Between my own writing, and reading I was doing for research, or book club I had to renew it twice. I am so happy I finally got around to reading it. It was so thick and lush. It is described as novel within a novel, but it is even more complex than that. It spans three distinct time periods, and the novel within the novel has various sci-fi stories told within it. Atwood has a sort of vagueness to her writing. She does not spell anything out, and yet everything is quite clear. I was very caught up in the stories, all of them. I always have the feeling of wanting more, whenever I read Atwood, and yet I always feel satisfied. Like a meal that is so unusual and delicious you wish it would never end, but you are not unpleasantly full when you are finished. If I had a complaint, it would be the two-dimensionality of the villains, a brother and sister. They are completely without redemption, and a little like stock characters. Some of the other characters are so well-developed that these two really stand out. It is a small complaint. The book was mesmerizing.

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

2009-06-22T11:11:00.001-07:00

For those of us who are familiar with Lois Lowry from The Giver, this book was a kick in the pants. It is total satire that both makes fun of and pays homage to good, old-fashioned stories like Pollyana, Anne of Green Gables and James and the Giant Peach. It is full of needlessly big words like "nefarious" and "ignominious" with a glossary in the back. I think the author is poking fun at the blythe use of big, twenty-five cent words in childrens literature. There is also a short synopsis of the novels she refers to in the back of the book so we can understand what is so funny even if we haven't read the stories. In the novel, the Willoughby children decide that they should be orphans because all "worthy and winsome" children are orphans. They concoct a plan to become orphans, at the same time the parents have decided to rid themselves of their children and both diabolical plans are set in motion. The parents are villainous, the children are parodies of characters in other books, there is a benefactor, and abandoned baby and a no-nonsense but loving nanny - a la Mary Poppins. It is pretty hilarious. Without the nostalgia of the good, old-fashioned stories I am not sure younger readers would really get the joke. However, I do think it would still be entertaining in a Series of Unfortunate Events kind-of-way. I started the book thinking it was aimed at 4th-6th graders but after I read it I think it would fit more with 6th-Adult. I loved it, who knew Lois Lowry was so versatile?!?

Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura E. Williams

2009-06-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

From the back cover:

"It is 1942. Korinna, a thirteen-year-old girl in Germany, is an active member of the local Jungmadel, a Nazi youth group, along with many of her friends. She believes that Hitler is helping Germany by dealing with what he calls the "Jewish problem", a campaign she witnesses as her Jewish neighbors are attacked and taken from their homes.

When Korinna discovers that her parents - who are secretly members of an underground resistance group - are sheltering a family of Jewish refugees behind her bedroom wall, she is shocked. As she comes to know the family, her sympathies begin to turn, and when someone tips off the Gestapo, Korinna's loyalties are put to the test. She must decide what she really believes and whom she really trusts."

Sometimes it is difficult to read children's literature as an adult because of what I know. In this case it was especially hard because of the other books I have read about Nazi Germany (Night by Elie Weisel or Diary of Anne Frank) and of course, what I have learned about Auschwitz and other concentration camps in history. I thought the book was well-written with just enough awful information to be shocking (in a good, teaching-sort-of-way) to an adolescent. These young people in Germany were having fun. At the youth group they baked cookies, played games and sang patriotic songs... all while being brain-washed into believing that the Jews (and the infirm, the handicapped or the elderly) were the reason that Germany was in a Depression and if these could be "taken care of" the country would be great again. They were encouraged to harass the other Jewish children and report anyone who was being un-patriotic.

I always read stories like this with a sense of awe for the people who choose to do the right thing, in this case, Korinna's parents helping the Jewish family to escape the "work camps". I wonder if I would be strong enough to risk my life and my family to do what is right. This book addresses those issues but from the standpoint of a teenage girl. It was definitely worth reading. I would be interested to know what a thirteen-year-old might think of this book. I'll have to see if Nick will read it too.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

2009-06-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

This book is perfect for 6,7,8th grade girls. It is about an orphaned girl from Barbados who comes to a Puritan community to live with relatives. While she is there, she befriends an old Quaker woman, known as the "Witch of Blackbird Pond". When her friendship is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear and anger and is even accused of witchcraft herself. This book is historical but it has enough suspense and light romance that it would be interesting to an adolescent girl. So far the Newbery Award Winners have lived up to their award status.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

2009-06-01T14:06:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe I never read this book as a child! What a great story! I am definitely keeping this one in my arsenal of Read-Alouds for the Library. It is a well-written, fun, not too scary good vs. evil story with a great ending. What more could you ask for in a children's' book? This summer is going to be great!

What Are You Reading This Summer?

2009-05-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

Bethany asked this question at Book Club on Tuesday night. I just finished reading Warriors: Into the Wild, a youth fantasy adventure novel. That is what I will be reading this summer - various childrens' novels that either my kids have asked me to read because they enjoyed the book or because I have it in the library at school and I am curious. My summer will be filled with fun in the sun and childrens literature, with the exception of what I am reading for Book Club of course!

What was your favorite book as a child? Mine was a book called Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck. I have it in the library at school perhaps I should check it out for the summer for the nostagia...

What are you reading this summer?

Madame Bovary Book Club Night

2009-05-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

French Onion Soup, Stuffed Savory Cornish Game Hens, Brie with Lemon Thyme Honey Sauce, Baked Brie with Flaky Crust, Spanish Style Artichoke Dip, Trifle with Angel Food Cake, Whipped Cream and Brandied Strawberry Sauce and of course, French wine...Book Club is always a feast of good food and good company. Not everyone was able to finish this classic novel but it is an age-old tale of bored, unhappy wife turns to selfish, handsome player for entertainment while ho-hum, cuckold husband is clueless. It just happens that in 1857, it was a fairly new concept to put on paper.

I started to struggle through this book about a third of the way through because I didn't like or care about any of the characters but I am happy I stuck with it. Definitely a worthwhile read, if only because it is a classic and Flaubert was really sailing into uncharted literary territory for the time but also because he uses some beautiful language. For example, when describing the act of reading he says,"Your head is empty,the hours slip away. From your chair you wander through the countries of your mind, and your thoughts, threading themselves into the fiction, play about with the details or rush along the track of the plot. You melt into the characters; it seems as if your own heart is beating under their skin." *sigh* Just beautiful.

When I read the commentary after I finished the novel, I learned that I had missed much of the sexual/erotic imagery. Phallic candlesticks and cigars permeated the novel. Big, pink conch shells dressed the mantel, while large, decorative balls hung from the curtain rod. I took the descriptions of surroundings at face value, forgetting that this was the erotic novel of the time.

I really enjoyed Book Club this month! I mean I enjoy it every month but with life being so crazy this year, I haven't been able to put the energy into Book Club that I usually do. I was so happy I was finally able to contribute something yummy that I hadn't purchased moments before the meeting, I had time to dress up a la sophisticated Madame and my brain was actually engaged...I had a lovely time! Now that school is ending and I should really have to time, I can't wait for our summer meetings! Please remember to bring ideas next month for July, August, September - our themes will be Africa, Chick Lit and Banned Book.

The Midwife by Jennifer Worth

2009-05-19T16:29:00.001-07:00

"Why did I ever start this?" Jennifer Worth asks herself in her memoir 'The Midwife'. "Only an idiot would choose to be a midwife. " This first sentence in the book made me smile. Nice to know I'm not the only one who has thought that. Worth shares her incredible career as a midwife during the 1950s in the London Docklands. The Docklands were poverty stricken, dirty, and recently bombed during World War II. People lived in condemned buildings among rats, grime, and violence. Worth worked out of a Nunnery, providing prenatal care, delivering babies in their homes, and checking up on the moms and babies afterward. It was a busy life with highly unpredictable hours.
Some may be turned off by the subject, fearing gore, blood, and other unpleasant things often associated with birth. But this is one book you don't want to judge by its cover. The Midwife is, more than anything, the story of an amazing woman in 1950s London and the people she met. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, motivating stories, or who just wants a good read. (Consider reading the appendix first to help with the Cockney dialect.)

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy

2009-05-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows the story of Hansel and Gretel, the two children abandoned in the woods by their father and evil stepmother, who then discover the witch's hut. In this moving book by Murphy the story is changed but, the main pieces are still there: the stepmother, the bread crumbs, and the 'witch'. This is WWII during the occupation of Poland and two children are left in the forest by a desperate father and stepmother who are trying to flee the Nazis. The children are told they must forget their names because their real names will reveal their Jewishness and are renamed 'Hansel' and 'Gretel'. The parents hope someone will take them in and think they are Christian. The first person they find in the forest is Magda, the village 'witch'. She takes them in and protects them in her small hut that is heated by an enormous old bakers oven. This is a gut wrenching story of the Holocaust. The voices of Jews who hid in the forests, of men and women who participated in resistance movements, and of Polish civilians.
Hearing those voices was chilling. And this author does a remarkable job at giving them all voices.

The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble

2009-05-05T15:59:00.000-07:00

This book was a best seller in the UK and I almost didn't pick it up, thought it would be too 'chic-lit' and foo-foo and I didn't want to waste my time. But then I opened the book and saw the list of books this fictional book club read and saw that they have three of the books we've read this past year, Rebecca, Heartburn & Atonement. This was a great palate cleanser between Irving and Flaubert and not that mindless. The book follows the five members of the reading group from different backgrounds and age groups, they bond closely while coping with such matters as a philandering husband, a mother with dementia, a pregnant but unmarried daughter, an infertility crisis, a wedding and a funeral. It took a little bit to get all the characters separate in my mind, the five group members with their husbands & kids, but once I did I enjoyed this book.

With summer coming up, this would be a great beach read or even a possible suggestion for our 'chic-lit' book selection. Either way, I'll bring this to our next meeting so it can start to make it's way through the BC Underground.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

2009-05-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

Our Book Club meeting for A Prayer for Owen Meany wasn't as in-depth of a discussion as it could have been but in all fairness this was a book that needed more than one month to read. It certainly was not a book that could be easily skimmed and with all the busyness in all of our lives it was no suprise that not everyone could finish the book in time. Everyone said that they enjoyed it though and wanted to finish it in the coming months.

We all agreed that John Irving managed to write a Christian novel that’s not the least bit inspirational. At no point in the novel does the author suggest that the reader adopt Christianity, however, this is a very religious book in the sense that God plays a large role—and the main character himself is a Christ figure. I loved the way this novel was written, it is truly a novel that waits until the very end to wrap up it's plot. I love a book that makes you turn the page. This book covered some huge issues: religion, war, politics, friendship, sacrifice, duty...you name it, it was probably covered. I think we all agreed that this book was a worthwhile read, in fact, a recommended read.

And, of course, the food and company were wonderful. Our Book Club is the nicest blend of personalities, worldviews and cooks. It is always a delicious suprise to see what everyone has brought to share. The theme for the night was "small foods a la Owen Meany" chosen by Bethany. See what I mean?

Thanks ladies! I am looking forward to many, many more shared books and recipes.

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

2009-04-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

Many years ago I read a book by Alice McDermott called Child of my Heart. It was a sweet ethereal meandering book. Charming Billy won a National Book Award, and that piqued my interest. It too was a meandering slow book. It was not written chronologically, but rather, gave a bit of information, went back in time, forward in time, and then came back to the bit of information, adding a little, and then back and forth again. The story was about an Irish New Yorker. The story starts at his wake, his death being a result of alcoholism. The friends and family at his wake blame his life-long drinking problem on lost love, but as we travel back to look at his life, we find nothing is that easily explained away. I enjoyed this book, but felt no compulsion to get back to reading it. If I were not stuck on a plane for 3 1/2 hours, I may not have finished it. I didn't particularly care about the characters, not even the lead, supposedly lovable lush at the center. I find alcoholism selfish and not at all charming. The same writing style with a different story would have been more enjoyable.

2009-04-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

This book was thrown around our last meeting as a potential Sci-Fi pick. I'm glad it didn't make the final cut only because it doesn't really delve into the sci-fi aspect of the story. The main character is Kathy H. (you never know last names, just first initials) who as a child lived at Hailsham, an isolated private school in the English countryside where the students were sheltered from the outside world. The students are brought up to believe that they're special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. The students are told to focus on art, drawing, painting, poetry and their best works are taken from the school my a mysterious character only known as Madame. They are told their art work will to into The Gallery. We are introduced to Kathy H. as an adult and her job as a 'carer' to donors at various recovery centers. We eventually learn that the students at Hailsham are clones whose sole purpose in life is to donate and then 'complete.' The book focuses more on the relationships Kathy has with two of her classmates from Hailsham than the sci-fi part, who are they clones of, who is their 'possible'? But since the focus of the book is on the interpersonal relationships of these students/clones it does make you think, does a clone have a soul and a life completely separate and different from the original person they were cloned?

I did like this book and would read it again in the future only because I think it may be one of those books where you'll get more from it the second time you read it through.

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

2009-04-03T12:26:00.001-07:00

From the back cover: "On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency cesarean section on a mother she believes has died of a stroke. But what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead - and Sibyl inadvertently killed her?"

When I began reading this book I was sure the author was pro-midwife but once I finished it I was not so sure. I can only filter this story through my own personal beliefs about midwives and childbirth. My mom is a certified nurse midwife who works in a hospital. I delivered two of my babies in a hospital with a midwife in attendance (I would have delivered all four that way but it just didn't work out). I considered a home birth but felt more comfortable in a hospital where 1) equipment was within arms reach to help if something went wrong and 2) I didn't have to deal with the mess in my house. However, I had friends who delivered babies at home with lay midwives and had incredible birth experiences too. In the end, I believe that a mother should deliver wherever and with whomever she feels most comfortable. In any case, we are talking about life, and life is messy - there is never a guarantee that everything will be okay. I hate that our society has become so litigious that there must always be someone to blame and made to pay if life gets messy. I thought this book was ultimately a warning against trusting anyone who isn't a medical doctor who went to school for years. I guess all I am saying is that everyone, including the most highly trained surgeons, makes mistakes. Anyway, it was a good book, definitely thought provoking and a little disturbing to me.

Loving Frank and The Country Girls March Meeting

2009-04-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan turned out to be well liked by everyone. While we all thought Mamah was a selfish person for abandoning her family to be with Frank Lloyd Wright, we all still liked the story. As a love story, it missed the mark because no one was rooting for their relationship to succeed. However, the suprize ending made the novel well worth the read. We all said we would recommend the book.

The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien turned out to be a disappointment. We all expected fireworks since, upon publishing in the 1950's, the book was banned immediately in Ireland. The story was blah and the characters shallow. It wasn't a terrible book but no one in Book Club would recommend it either. The food and the company were great (as usual) at the meeting last night. The menu included Irish Stew made with Guinness, Beer Bread, Corned Beef with potatoes and carrots, Green Irish Ladies (a green champagne drink - yum!), Green salad, Green apple wedges with Dubliner cheese, and Caramel Apple Cake with Whiskey Cream. Delicious! Check back for recipes...

My Name is Will, A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare

2009-03-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

I read a review of this book about a year ago and it peaked my interest then but I didn't go out of my way to pick the book up. I just figured, "eh, if/when I see it, I'll pick it up." I wish I would have gotten it last year. This book is smart, funny, witty and not for everyone. There is sex, there is drug use and there is Shakespeare. The main character is William "Willie" Shakespeare Greenberg, a Jewish kid in the masters program as UC Santa Cruz, who has decided that his masters thesis is going to be about how the original William Shakespeare was a closeted Catholic and how that influenced his writing and how there may have been hidden codes in this plays and sonnets to other hidden Catholics in Elizabethan England. Willie has been cut off by his dad and needs some fast cash so he agrees to be a drug runner, ending up at a Renaissance Faire. Interspersed in Willie's story, is the parallel story of an 18yr old William Shakespeare before his shot-gun marriage to Anne Hathaway, his own experiences with hallucinatory substances and run-ins with the law. I would read this again and tell everybody else to read it, but only the people who I thought would be able to handle it, like I said, it's a SMART book, not for the ding-dongs out there.

The story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

2009-03-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

This is Wroblewski's first novel. I always love reading new authors books and I was very pleased I read this one. The author grew up in rural Wisconsin not far from the Chequamegon National Forest where the setting for the story is.
The novel begins with the needless killing of an injured, limping, stray dog with a poison by a herbalist. This brutal killing fits into the story later on.
The protagonist is a fourteen year old boy named Edgar Sawtelle, who is born mute. His parents, Gar and Trudy are dog-breeders, who live on a farm in a remote part of northern Wisconsin not far from the National Forest. They breed and train a unique and special breed of dogs that were developed by Edgar's grand father. The dogs have earned a good reputation not only for their noble temperament, but also their ability to anticipate commands by watching body language. The training methods by this young mute boy are extraordinary The family's life is disrupted when Claude, Edgar's creepy uncle visits them. Gar offers him a job at the farm and a place to stay. Gar then dies suddenly and mysteriously. Edgar suspects that Claude murdered his father. He tries to prove it but, his plan backfires. So, to save himself from Claude he runs away into the Chequamegon forest, along with three young dogs. The author's vivid descriptions of nature, his ability to describe the terrors of the wilderness, and narrating a part of the story from a dog's perspective are incredible. Even the supernatural incidents in the story seem to be natural and believable. This is definitely a book I will read again.

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben

2009-03-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

This book grabs you from page one. And, anyone who was or is a parent will relate to this story. There are basically two plots. 1) Mike and Tia are worried about their son, Adam. Ever since Adam lost his friend, Spencer, to suicide, he has withdrawn from the family. They decide to install spy software on his computer. And, 2) a baffling police case which connects numerous people throughout the community. The story brings up the highly relevant ethical questions that most parents may have to deal with today: How do you weigh a child's privacy against a parent's right to know? How do you differentiate normal teenage rebellion from out of control? When and how do you intervene if suicidal signs appear? A note from the author states that all the technology used in the book is real. All the software and equipment described are readily available to the general public for purchase. I was totally amazed to think parents can now know exactly where their children are via their phone and with internet spy software know exactly who they talk to and about what. Definitely lots of food for thought in this read.

Memoir of Misfortune by Su Xiaokang

2009-03-10T13:57:00.001-07:00

The BN synopsis of the book is: "In the 1980s, Su Xiaokang, a young journalist, wrote the script for a six-part television series, River Elegy, which probed so deeply into the core of Chinese beliefs and values that it galvanized the entire country in an explosion of intellectual debate. Having survived the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, he now became the focus of a massive pursuit as one of the regime's five most wanted "criminals," and was smuggled out of China, leaving behind his wife, Fu Li, and their young son. After two long years and great international pressure, the family was finally reunited in Princeton, New Jersey. For a brief time, it seemed as if the worst was behind them. But on June 4, 1993 -- exactly four years after Tiananmen -- while the family was being driven to Niagara Falls, the car they were in sped off the road. When Su Xiaokang regained consciousness, he discovered that Fu Li was in a coma, from which she would eventually emerge unable to speak or to control her limbs. "

This book is so much more than that, we join the author's journey through his guilt for his wife's injuries, trying to reconnect with his tween son who is becoming more Americanized, and his spiritual discovery coming from an atheist China, to discovering what faith and spirituality means to each individual. We also learn from the letters written from Fu Li to her husband in exile and from her journal entries when she first arrived in America, what life was like for her prior to the accident that changed their lives. The only criticism is that I feel that some of this novel may have been lost in the translation from Chinese to English.

Saturday by Ian McEwan

2009-03-10T13:34:00.001-07:00

I know that most of us feel strongly about Ian McEwan, we either love him or could do without him. I am of the love him camp, but this book wasn't my favorite of his. The novel centers around Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon with an equally successful wife and two grown children. The story takes place all in one day, a Saturday, sometime after 9/11 but before the war with Iraq. As Henry makes is way to his weekly squash game with a fellow doctor, there is an anti-war protest going on and he has to make a detour. As in all the McEwan novels I've read, the detour always means that something good/bad is going to happen and Henry gets into a small fender bender with Baxter, a small angry twitchy man with a tendancy for violence. But to Henry's trained eye, he thinks there may be something neurologically wrong with Baxter. Not to give anything away, but everything comes full circle for Henry & Baxter. Like I said, wasn't my favorite McEwan novel, but does bring up the question of what would you do for revenge.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

2009-03-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

I figured that since Feburary was the month of Abraham Lincoln, and it was 200 years since his birth, it would be a good idea to read a book on good ol' Honest Abe. Team of Rivals isn't just a bio on Abe, but also the three other men who ran against him for president in 1860. There is the shoe-in, the wealthy elitist snob, and the elder statesman who all ran against the no-name backwoods lawyer from Illinois. After Abe unexpectedly gains the Republican nomination, he then brings in these three rivals into his cabinet as Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury & Attorney General. The subtitle of this book is, "The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" and it shows how he was a genius in his own way, usually when a spat broke out between his Sec of State & Sec of Treasury, he would somehow smooth things over with each man thinking he was the victor when really Abe was the winner. The book also goes through the Civil War and what a personal toll it took on Abe, his family, and the men in his cabinet. This is a hefty book, 750pgs, not something you can power through in a weekend but I highly recommend it even though it can get a little muddled since there are so many names to keep track of, but you learn quickly who is important in the history of our country.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

2009-03-06T23:16:00.001-08:00

After a deep experience with God and a very messy divorce, the author Elizabeth travels to Italy, India and Indonesia in search of truth and healing. At times this book was funny, other times very serious. The author has such a different world view from my own that it was also an interesting peek into her mind. I have to admit that I was briefly jealous that she was able to embark on a "voyage of self-discovery" at the tender age of 35. Then I realized that even if I had the opportunity, I still would not have chosen her path. She has a wonderful writing style. I love when writers can convey what others can't even put into words. I enjoyed this book, I'd recommend it.

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

2009-02-26T07:51:00.000-08:00

The book back reads, "In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child. CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own. Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth, and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die in order to protect a lifetime of lies."

I stumbled across this book at Target, picked it up and read the back, shrugged, and thought to myself, "Hmmm. This might be good." Then tossed it in the cart. Forgot about it. Found it last week. Glad I did. While not a literary masterpiece, Diane Chamberlain does an amazing job of pulling you into the story. The main character, CeeCee, is a naive sixteen-year-old when she is manipulated into a 22-year-old man's quest for "justice." Having lost her mother to cancer at the age of 12, then being bounced around a series of foster homes, CeeCee is desperate to be loved and willing to sacrifice anything to keep that love. While the crimes she is involved in are shocking and sensational, I found myself sympathizing with young CeeCee. I felt so connected with the characters I felt their struggles, pain and joy. I could barely put the book down, so eager was I to see how it ended. Then there was the contradictory disappointment that comes with finishing a good book. I'll bring it to the next meeting to pass along.

Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion

2009-02-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

B&N.com says ... "A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader. Set in a place beyond good and evil-literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul-it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose."

This book left me uneasy and uncomfortable. That is the only way I know of to describe it. I read it in one day - it's a fairly quick read, seeing that some of the chapters are less than half a page long. But part of the reason I read it so quickly is that I was anxious to finish it and put it away. My father, for some unknown reason, has been urging me to read this book for several years. After finishing it last night, I cannot fathom WHY. I can't see my military-history-and-historical-fiction-loving father even remotely enjoying this book. Note to self - ask him to explain. I am by no means saying this book is not worth the read. It just put me into a place that I prefer not to be.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

2009-02-18T10:28:00.000-08:00

This book was written in 1987 by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison. From the back cover: Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved."

Wow. This book is incredible. It is like watching a great artist flesh out a breathtaking and horrible painting up close. There is the idea of what the painting will be and slowly each color is added and built-up so that when it is finished and we back up, the effect is truly stunning. Like a Monet, up close we can see the detail, each blob of color and brush-stroke but when we step back - what a masterpiece!

This book's details are grisly, hard, bitter, beautiful, heartwrenching, poetic and devestating. It is a true look at slavery in the United States. It is always horrifying to me how awful human beings can be to one another. Slavery, the Holocaust, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, the treatment of the American Indians - history is fraught with evidence of the nastiness of men. But also the strength of the human spirit, the beauty in life and how amazing people can be. This book was terribly hard to read and impossible to put down.

It certainly puts my life in perspective, while I am worrying about the economy and the bailout and whether California will ever have a budget , those worries are nothing! I am not worried about whether I will be fed, or beaten, or tied and bridled like a horse, or have my children sold away from me, or my husband shot or hanged or burned. I don't have to care for someone who thinks of me as an animal, less than livestock, locked in a cage. I have a say in who will father my children. I am and always have been truly free. My worries are nothing.

Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst

2009-02-12T21:31:00.000-08:00

From the back cover: "Laura is awakened in the middle of the night by her teenage daughter, who has barely spoken a word to her in months. Following Cassie up to her attic room, Laura discovers her daughter's shocking secret - and moves quickly to try to set things right.
The rift between mother and daughter will soon be played out on a global scale, when - in the hope that time spent together will heal their relationship - Laura and Cassie join a motley group of contestants on a reality TV show. What starts as a lark turns deadly serious when the show's creators scheme to reveal the most intimate details of the players' lives. The question becomes not just who will capture the million-dollar prize, but at what cost."

Some of you may recognize this author's name from her previous work The Dogs of Babel, a serious, dark and disturbing book about suicide, love and bizarre language testing on dogs. This book is nothing like that one, in fact one would almost question if it is really the same author even though it says so right on the cover. I guess as readers we expect our authors to maintain a certain continuity in their work. Janet Fitch did it with White Oleander and Paint it Black, Jean Hegland did it with Into the Forest and Windfalls, there aren't any huge surprises in the writing from Jodi Picoult or Amy Tan. This book, however, was shocking as a follow up to Parkhurst's first work because it was so incredibly different.

The surprise aside, it turned out to be a very good book. Each chapter was from the viewpoint of a different character and she did a good job of keeping each character's voice separate and distinct (although I really did like how Picoult gave each of her characters their own font in My Sister's Keeper). This book is really about the secrets we keep and how, big or little, we all have them. It is an interesting, thought-provoking book in an easy-to-read little package.

On a side note: There is a previously gay couple in the story (this doesn't give anything away) and by that I mean one man and one women who each used to be gay but who turned away from their lifestyle with help from a christian organization and married each other. I don't know, I just feel inundated with gayness lately. It seems everywhere I turn there is a commercial, a TV show, a book, an article that has hopped aboard the gay-train. Not only that but they all seem to christian-bash at the same time. It bothers me because: 1) I can't seem to get away from it and 2) they (the gay community, Hollywood, the media, etc.) are forcing me to think about something that I previously thought little about. While I can be opinionated about myself, my own life, family, and beliefs, I really am mostly a live-and-let-live kind of person. But now I am having this "lifestyle" rammed down my throat everyday and it's kind-of pissing me off. Thoughts?

your roots are showing by Elise Chidley

2009-02-05T15:43:00.001-08:00

"Lizzie Buckley is having doubts about per picture-perfect world. She does love her country estate, precocious three-year-old twins, and handsome husband, James. But nobody warned her about postpartum depression and the toll it would take on her marriage. Or how she'd fantasize about chucking it all for a box of chocolates and an uninterrupted bath.

Lizzie vents these frustrations in an e-mail and her life is shattered: James gets the message by mistake. Lizzie soon finds herself uprooting her children to start over in a ramshackle garden cottage. Now facing life - and the twins - alone, Lizzie struggles to reinvent herself and forget about her soon-to-be ex. But when thoughts of James still haunt her, she begins to wonder if the best part of marriage starts after the fairytale ends..."

This book was a quick read - entertaining and relevant to every marriage in some way. I could tell from the beginning that everything was going to be just fine and knowing that I could enjoy Lizzie's re-invention of herself. Really just a polishing away of the tarnish of postpartum depression and emerging the glowing, confident woman James married. It was truly a modern day fairytale - very sweet but I didn't mind I could use a little sweetness lately. It was a good reminder that good communication is essential to a healthy marriage and how easily things can go awry when it's not there. Some of the English vernacular was a little unfamiliar but easy enough to gain the meaning from the context. Actually, it added to the quirkiness of the story. I liked this book. It is no literary masterpiece but still a fun read.

The Recipes are Back!!

2009-01-29T10:55:00.001-08:00

Click on the link to the left to see the recipes from this month's Book Club Meeting. I am trying to get back to posting the recipes - sorry I flaked out on that for a while.

DiscoSplitz Gets the Gold Star!!

2009-01-28T15:25:00.000-08:00

That's right, she was the only one who powered through this month's Book Pick. The Debt to Pleasure turned out to be a total dud for everyone. For those who are wondering what the big twist at the end is... it is that the narrator is a serial killer and has been killing every character in the book in various ways but mostly with poisonous mushrooms. Everyone agreed that the book was terrible.

It was a small meeting last night, only four of us made it. We had Lillian Hellman's Pot Roast, cooked carrots, mushroom salad (we are still living, thank goodness!!), Parisian Salad and Chez Helene's Bread Pudding. Both the Pot Roast and Bread Pudding Recipes came from Heartburn. The food was delicious!

We got through the business of planning for the year. The February Book Pick is Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. Three of the five people who submitted ideas brought this book - so February was easy. The March Book Pick is The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien. It is a book set in Ireland, written in the 1950's and immediately banned. Looking forward to both!

Also, we planned out our themes for the rest of the year.
April - Books made into Movies
May - Classic
June - Science Fiction
July - Africa (choose a book set in Africa)
August - Chick Lit (i.e. The Devil Wears Prada, Lipstick Jungle, etc.)
September - Banned Book
October - Mystery
November - Christmas
December - 4th Annual Book Exchange

I am going to try and figure out a way to add a feature to the blog with book lists for the different months. That way if you see something you can add it to the list and not have to worry about remembering when it is time to choose books. I am excited about the year to come! I hope you all are too, I think we have opportunities for some really great choices.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

2009-01-25T14:43:00.001-08:00

This novel follows the lives to two young Chinese girls in 19th century China who are laotongs, or old sames, kind of preordained best friends. They live in separate villages and communicate through a secret language invented by women for women called nu shu. They use this language through embroidery on handkerchiefs and written within the folds of a fan passed to each other. We follow their lives through painful footbinding, arranged marriages, love, loss, sickness and secrets. One of these girls ascends to wealth and respect while the other lives in poverty.

The chapter on the footbinding is fairly detailed but not too gruesome and the Chinese rituals and rites were fascinating to read about since I didn't know too much about them. I liked the book and while it repeats what we know about China, that boys are a blessing and girls are a burden to the family, it does shed a different light and questions the power that women ultimately have in the Chinese family of old. I also ask myself if one of the girls grows up to be a hero, villian or victim. Or maybe all three. If anybody else has read this I would love to know what you thought.

Windfalls by Jean Hegland

2009-01-22T15:02:00.000-08:00

After 2 months of a serious reading funk, I finally picked up a book that captured my interest and broke the dry spell. I chose Windfalls by Jean Hegland because I thought her other book Into the Forest was amazing. I tried to have no expectations of the book that might lead to disappointment. This book is a story about two mothers who come from very different backgrounds and live very different lives. When their lives intersect, each woman emerges from the brief friendship stronger, inspired by what she has seen in the other and changed in a way that would never have happened otherwise. It is not too often that a book makes me cry, but this one made me cry tears of joy, sadness, understanding, anger and hope. I loved this book! I literally hugged in to my chest to savor it for one more moment when I finished reading. Hegland has a way of writing that expresses feeling in a way that I have never seen. I look forward to whatever she writes next.

The Blue Cotton Gown:A Midwife's Memoir

2009-01-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

This book was definitely not what I expected. During the period Patricia Harman is writing about, she no longer attends deliveries because insurance is too expensive. The book is very much a general memoir which includes a lot of her disclosing personal details to her patients in a way I didn't think was appropriate. Seems more about her personal problems than about her patients stories which I always find incredibly unique in my practice. This is just an FYI - certainly not a recommend that you read.

Light on Snow by Anita Shreve

2009-01-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

Light on Snow is a story of Nicky, a twelve year old girl, and her father Robert who take a walk in the snow only to find an abandoned baby freezing and wrapped in a bloody towel. They immediately rush home to warm the baby and then take her to a hospital. There the police question Robert but, he is released.
Days later with more snow coming, the mother of the baby comes to their home under the pretense of shopping for furniture which Robert makes. Eventually, she admits who she is and Robert has to decide whether to turn her in or not. And then they get snowed in. She tells her side of the story about the birth and his thoughts about her change. An incredible story about the decisions we make and the consequences these decisions make on others. This is a quick read and a perfect story for snowy weather when you don't want to shovel any more.

Restless

2009-01-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

Feeling restless...after turning the corner into the New Year, I find myself more and more restless. Reading has not been as soothing, enjoyable or relaxing as usual, which in my case is incredibly unusual. Historically, I have read through the darkest of days and now I struggle through a page or two before I am off doing something else.

So, I was in the school library today looking around and made the decision to make the library even more usable. Taking my example from the Temecula Library I have decided to move all of the young children's picture books into the middle section and all of the 2nd grade and above fiction to the perimeter of the room. Right now I am using the middle section to showcase series books but that seems to be confusing to the volunteers who are reshelving. I don't know why this is confusing but perhaps my logic isn't as logical as I think. I doubt rearranging the library is the answer to my restlessness but it will burn off some energy anyway.

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-04T01:41:00.000-08:00

Despite the economy, the country and frankly, the world, being a complete mess at least we can look back at our Book Club year and still smile. Gone With the Wind, The Ice Queen, Unless, The Witch of Cologne, Moloka'i, Atonement, Rebecca, Mistress of the Art of Death, The Tender Bar, The Haunting of Hill House and Heartburn - pat yourselves on the back for this accomplishment. We read 11 books last year, not counting any on the side or the ones floating around the "underground book club". As you all know, I love Book Club and it wouldn't be what it is without all of you. I value every one of your opinions, outlooks, worldviews and, above all, your friendship. I look forward to another interesting and fun year - I can't wait to see what we will read this year.

Bethany, wow three years have passed since we started this group! 34 books and counting, baby!

I love you all! Here's to a spectacular 2009!

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

2008-12-30T19:37:00.000-08:00

So, I have been messing around with the Blog tonight - adding some cool new features...check them out.

I got this book at the December Book Exchange. It was just what the doctor ordered for the holidays. Light, easy, entertaining and forgettable. The main character, Jane Rosenthal, is out in the mad, mad world of singleness and dating. This novel captures what is must be like to be coming of age in America today. My only complaint about this book is that the author would skip big gaps of time from chapter to chapter. It gave me the same feeling as when I miss dialogue in a movie, that I have to "catch up" to understand what is happening. Otherwise, it was a fun read.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

2008-12-12T11:35:00.001-08:00

This book to me forever to read. The author has this rambling, speak-writing style that really slows down the reading pace. The novel is an Oprah Book Club pick and it is always hit or miss for me with her picks. I loved Night by Elie Wiesel and Cane River by Lalita Tademy but this one was so-so. The novel takes place in post-Hitler Germany. Michael, the 16 year old narrator falls ill on his way home from school one day and is rescued by a woman twice his age. After a time, she becomes his lover and then inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, she is on trial for war crimes. As he watches her refuse to defend herself, he realizes that she is illiterate. Torn between his revulsion of her actions and his prior love for her, Michael ends up reading books onto tapes and sending them to her in prison. The plus for this book is that it makes you think about what subsequent generations thought and felt about those who participated in the war but that is about it. I am glad I finished this book but I can't really recommend it as a great read.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

2008-12-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

The comment on the front of this novel says "sidesplitting" and while there were some funny parts I am never particularly amused by the disintegration of a marriage. However, once I learned that this novel is essentially autobiographical, I realized it might have been the only way the author could process what had happened to her marriage. So, okay, I'll cut the book a little slack.

The Book Club meeting, on the other hand, was truly sidesplitting! We met at Allie's Wine Bar and Tapas and shared some extraordinary food, drinks and desserts. Our waiter, a young Don Henley look-alike, was funny, engaging and very patient with his rowdy cougar den. We were so loud, rowdy and raunchy that it is a good thing we had our own room with doors that could be closed!!

I love the December meeting! It is not about the book but about spending time with each other reminiscing about the past year and talking about our plans for the year to come...laughing, drinking, eating, crying, arguing, encouraging, complimenting, complaining and just truly caring about each other. This was my 3rd December meeting and Book Exchange and I couldn't be happier. We have a great time, every time and I look forward to many more Book Club meetings!

Disclosure by Michael Crichton

2008-12-10T09:45:00.001-08:00

When I first started reading this book I was sceptical because it wasn't Crichton's usual science fiction. This book is centered on corporate politics and sexual harassment. A high level male executive gets passed over for a promotion by a woman. The woman sexually harasses him. He then finds himself with a serious problem. How can he keep his current position, how can he address the issue of harassment by a female superior, and can he figure out the political reasons why he was placed in that position in the first place? The book presents interesting statistics from 1994. At which time about 5% of all the reported cases of sexual harassment were made by men about female superiors. Doesn't sound like very many but, at that time only about 5% of top level executives were women. This then suggested that the rate of harassment by women was the same as for men. Makes me wonder if it's the same or worse now?

Done with Facebook

2008-12-01T16:13:00.001-08:00

Hello All. I have pulled myself off of Facebook. I wasn't connecting with anyone I'm not already connected with and it just seemed redundant. If your reading this - you are already my friend anyway. Love you all.

Travels With Charley In Search of America by John Steinbeck

2008-11-25T15:12:00.003-08:00

There's never been a Steinbeck I didn't love, and this book is no exception!

B&N.com says, "To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.
With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. And he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, on a particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and on the unexpected kindness of strangers that is also a very real part of our national identity." This book is in turns funny, poignant and contains a nauseating view of a sliver of the Civil Rights movement in the South. Steinbeck starts his journey in New York, cutting across the American midwest into Oregon and California - finding that it is true what they say, "You can never go home again." He then continues through Texas into New Orleans and then back up through the Eastern states to return home. Very isolated parts of this book drag, but for the most part it is an interesting view of our country during the early 1960's. Several areas made me laugh out loud. Steinbeck's interaction with his poodle, Charley, will cause any dog lover to smile more than once. Not a novel, but a well-recalled tale of his personal journey, this will be one that I will certainly read again someday. Among my favorite quotes from the book: "I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts."

The 2nd envelope please......

2008-11-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

The winner for the January Book Pick is The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester. Thank you for voting.

I am not a statistics major...obviously!!

2008-11-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

We have a tie again! Please vote one more time for the January Book Pick. Thanks!

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

2008-11-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

I became a big Ian McEwan fan after we read Attonement. His books are beatifully written and there's always a little bit of a twist (that damn Briony!). This book is no different, has a twist (or two) and has at least one funny moment that the other books I've read of his don't have.

The BN synopsis says: On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throng outside a crematorium to pay their last respects to Molly Lane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly's lovers in the days before they reached their current eminence. Clive is Britain's most successful modern composer; Vernon is editor of the quality broadsheet The Judge. Gorgeous, feisty Molly had other lovers, too, notably Julian Garmony, Foreign Secretary, a notorious right-winger tipped to be the next prime minister. In the days that follow Molly's funeral, Clive and Vernon will make a pact with consequences neither has foreseen. Each will make a disastrous moral decision, their friendship will be tested to its limits, and Julian Garmony will be fighting for his political life.

I'll bring it along to our Dec Tapas Fiesta!

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

2008-11-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

I read this book only because my husband kept insisting I should. But, I was so glad I did. What a wonderful book! Enzo, the narrator, is a dog and he wants nothing more than to be a man. He is part of a happy family, Denny, the race car driver; Denny's wife Eve, and the daughter Zoe. Life is good. Then Eve develops cancer and decides to remove herself to her rich parents home along with Zoe. In the end, the grandparents decide to challenge Denny for custody of Zoe and do so in a manner that isn't what most of us believe grandparents are. This book will tug at you in so many ways. Without giving too much away, let me say that I haven't teared up so often while reading in a long time. (When asked my husband admits to tears while waiting to board a plane - so, be careful where you read this.) But, don't let me scare you off. The Art of Racing in the Rain is a book you've got to read, especially if you love dogs ( or animals in general). With a wonderful storyline and characters you become attached to this book is amazing.

The Red Scarf by Kate Furnivall

2008-11-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

Furnivall's first book, The Russian Concubine, was fantastic. And, I wasn't disappointed by her second book. In 1933, Sofia struggles to survive her ordeal in Siberia's Davinsky labor camp. She lives because she has a long term goal of freedom and a short term goal to keep the spirit of her frail friend Anna going. She knows that Anna depends on her to maintain a fading flicker of hope. When Anna becomes ill, Sophia must seek help, which means escaping the camp. She escapes in hopes of finding Anna's childhood love, Vasily, a revolutionary allegedly living in Tivil. Sofia meets factory director Mikhail, whom she thinks is Vasily in disguise. As she falls in love with Mikhail, she doesn't want to act on her feelings because he belongs to Anna.
This a deep character driven novel looking at two courageous women, a brave man, and the labor camp that is so vividly described it sends you to bed with horrific visuals. The characters become exactly how I imagine people would have been at a time when your neighbor, who you have known all your life, could very well be the person to sign your death warrant. The romance in this novel takes a back seat, though it is well written and enhances the overall plot. Furnivall concentrates on the historical aspect that focuses on the horrors of the Siberian death camps.

The envelope please......

2008-11-09T10:19:00.000-08:00

and the winner for this month's book pick is........

Heartburn! by Nora Ephron!

Happy shopping ladies!

Don't forget to vote for the January Book Pick.

Vote for Your November Book Pick!

2008-11-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

Belle in the Big Apple: A Novel with Recipes by Brooke Parkhurst

When Belle Lee, a vivacious, tart-tongued daughter of Mobile, Alabama, decides that the only way she'll ever make a name for herself as a journalist is to leave the family paper and head to New York,she soon realizes just how daunting life in the big city can be. An outsider desperate to carve a place for herself in the cutthroat world of New York journalism, Belle marches all over town in her kitten heels and her single Chloé suit to hand-deliver résumés and smiles, and to beg for a job from the indifferent or downright hostile office drones.
She refuses to give up. With heroic persistence,a wicked sense of humor and a taste for the gourmet, Belle sees what it takes to become a New Yorker. She flirts with a gorgeous young man on the subway, only to learn later that he's stolen her purse; braves the judgmental stares of her neighbors; goes on a series of hilariously disastrous dates and then, finally, she catches her big break: a job as a production assistant at a conservative twenty-four-hour news network.
Belle throws herself into her work, sure that her talents will be noticed. All the while, she suffers the sexually suggestive commentary of one of the station's better-known male anchors, doggedly fetches scripts and pulls footage in the wee hours of the morning while working the midnight shift. Belle even maintains her Southern charm, baking cakes for her coworkers and befriending the office security guard.
Things start to look up when Paige Beaumont, the channel's star female news anchor, takes Belle under her wing. Paige shows Belle the ropes, dispenses career advice, includes her in the office gossip and also sets her up on dates at restaurants where,before, Belle had only dreamed of one day being inside. But when Belle uncovers the truth behind an illegal network deal that may jeopardize the election of female presidential candidate Jessica Clayton, she realizes that intelligent and ambitious women need to stick together -- and she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands.
With thirty recipes for everything from Bribe-Your-Coworkers Pound Cake to Single-Girl Sustenance and how to make the perfect Manhattan -- all told in the delightful and plucky voice of a determined and saucy young woman -- Belle in the Big Apple is about finding love in the most unlikely places, following your dreams and staying true to yourself.

The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine by Benjamin Wallace

It was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold.

In 1985, at a heated auction by Christie’s of London, a 1787 bottle of Château Lafite Bordeaux—one of a cache of bottles unearthed in a bricked-up Paris cellar and supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—went for $156,000 to a member of the Forbes family. The discoverer of the bottle was pop-band manager turned wine collector Hardy Rodenstock, who had a knack for finding extremely old and exquisite wines. But rumors about the bottle soon arose. Why wouldn’t Rodenstock reveal the exact location where it had been found? Was it part of a smuggled Nazi hoard? Or did his reticence conceal an even darker secret?

It would take more than two decades for those questions to be answered and involve a gallery of intriguing players—among them Michael Broadbent, the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women and staked his reputation on the record-setting sale; Serena Sutcliffe, Broadbent’s elegant archrival, whose palate is covered by a hefty insurance policy; and Bill Koch, the extravagant Florida tycoon bent on exposing the truth about Rodenstock.

Pursuing the story from Monticello to London to Zurich to Munich and beyond, Benjamin Wallace also offers a mesmerizing history of wine, complete with vivid accounts of subterranean European laboratories where old vintages are dated and of Jefferson’s colorful, wine-soaked days in France, where he literally drank up the culture.

Suspenseful, witty, and thrillingly strange, The Billionaire’s Vinegar is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries.It is also the debut of an exceptionally powerful new voice in narrative non-fiction.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes. For in this inspired confection of adultery, revenge, group therapy, and pot roast, the creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that comedy depends on anguish as surely as a proper gravy depends on flour and butter.

Seven months into her pregnancy, Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband, Mark, is in love with another woman. The fact that the other woman has "a neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb and you should see her legs" is no consolation. Food sometimes is, though, since Rachel writes cookbooks for a living. And in between trying to win Mark back and loudly wishing him dead, Ephron's irrepressible heroine offers some of her favorite recipes. Heartburn is a sinfully delicious novel, as soul-satisfying as mashed potatoes and as airy as a perfect soufflé.

Hunger Point by Jullian Medoff

Amid all the praise for Jillian Medoff's first novel, Hunger Point, one sentiment from female critics has resonated over and over: "This is not about food, this is about us, about how we live, the mistakes we make, the men we sleep with, the way we feel." Medoff's narrator is Frannie, a 26-year-old woman who tells the heartbreakingly honest and occasionally hilarious story of the Hunter family, as she comes to terms with her sister Shelly's illness and death stemming from an eating disorder. The novel has a universal appeal; it is about living and loving someone who is slowly succeeding in erasing herself, it is about bravery in the wake of suicide, it is about self-esteem, and a problem that affects countless women: the difficult task of regaining a lost sense of self.
Frannie and her sister Shelly inherit a preoccupation with weight from their mother, a self-appointed diet doctor who controls the gravy, the starch, and the chicken skin, using a weak emotional adhesive that eventually leaves the family unglued. Frannie manages to not become too obsessed with her weight, but as she grows older she suffers from other weaknesses, like surrendering herself sexually to the wrong men, men she nicknames "Rat Boys." Shelly takes dieting too seriously, going from "the perfect girl" to dangerously thin. She develops a life-threatening eating disorder that consumes her and leads to hospitalization. When her recovery is unremarkable, Shelly takes her own life. The Hunter household proceeds to fall apart: Frannie's parents split, her best friend deserts her, her personal life is stagnant and depressed. All that Frannie's college degree seems to have gotten her is a waitressing job, a room in the house she grew up in, and a gaping, permanent hole dug by her sister's death. But this is a story of recovery -- in one sense, recovery from the loss of a family member, and the subsequent disintegration of the family as a result. In a larger sense, though, Medoff writes about hope and renewal. Frannie has to climb out of the hole that her life has fallen into and along the way recover her own self-esteem.

The Siege by Helen Dunmore

Called "elegantly, starkly beautiful" by The New York Times Book Review, The Siege is Helen Dunmore's masterpiece. Her canvas is monumental -- the Nazis' 1941 winter siege on Leningrad that killed six hundred thousand -- but her focus is heartrendingly intimate. One family, the Levins, fights to stay alive in their small apartment, held together by the unlikely courage and resourcefulness of twenty-two-year-old Anna. Though she dreams of an artist's life, she must instead forage for food in the ever more desperate city and watch her little brother grow cruelly thin. Their father, a blacklisted writer who once advocated a robust life of the mind, withers in spirit and body. At such brutal times everything is tested. And yet Dunmore's inspiring story shows that even then, the triumph of the human heart is that love need not fall away. "The novel's imaginative richness," writes The Washington Post, "lies in this implicit question: In dire physical circumstances, is it possible to have an inner life? The answer seems to be that no survival is possible without one." Amid the turmoil of the siege, the unimaginable happens -- two people enter the Levins' frozen home and bring a kind of romance where before there was only bare survival. A sensitive young doctor becomes Anna's devoted partner, and her father is allowed a transcendent final episode with a mysterious woman from his past. The Siege marks an exciting new phase in a brilliant career, observed Publishers Weekly in a starred review: "Dunmore has built a sizable audience ... but this book should lift her to another level of literary prominence." "Dunmore's ... novel ... is an intimate record of an extraordinary humandisaster ... a moving story of personal triumph and public tragedy." -- Laura Ciolkowski, San Francisco Chronicle "In Helen Dunmore's hands, this epic subject assumes a lyrical honesty that sometimes wrenches but more often lifts the spirit." -- Frances Taliaferro, The Washington Post "Dunmore unravels the tangle of suffering, war, and base emotions to produce a story woven with love ... Extraordinary." -- Barbara Conaty, Library Journal (starred review)

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is the now-classic novel of two women in the 1980s; of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women--of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth--who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present--for Evelyn and for us--will never be quite the same again...

"Airplanes and television have removed the Threadgoodes from the Southern scene. Happily for us, Fannie Flagg has preserved a whole community of them in a richly comic, poignant narrative that records the exuberance of their lives, the sadness of their departure. Idgie Threadgoode is a true original: Huckleberry Finn would have tried to marry her!"
--Harper Lee, Author of To Kill a Mockingbird

La Cucina: A Novel of Rapture by Lily Prior

Since childhood, Rosa Fiore -- daughter of a sultry Sicilian matriarch and her hapless husband -- found solace in her family's kitchen. La Cucina, the heart of the family's lush estate, was a place where generations of Fiore women prepared sumptuous feasts and where the drama of extended family life was played out around the age-old table.
When Rosa was a teenager, her own cooking became the stuff of legend in this small community that takes pride in the bounty of its landscape and the eccentricity of its inhabitants. Rosa's infatuation with culinary arts was rivaled only by her passion for a young man, Bartolomeo, who, unfortunately, belonged to another. After their love affair ended in tragedy, Rosa retreated first into her kitchen and then into solitude, as a librarian in Palermo. There she stayed for decades, growing corpulent on her succulent dishes, resigned to a loveless life.
Then, one day, she meets the mysterious chef, known only is I'Inglese, whose research on the heritage of Sicilian cuisine leads him to Rosa's library, and into her heart. They share one sublime summer of discovery, during which I'lnglese awakens the power of Rosa's sensuality, and together they reach new heights of culinary passion. When I'Inglese suddenly vanishes, Rosa returns home to the farm to grieve for the loss of her second love. In the comfort of familiar surroundings, among her, growing family, she discovers the truth about her loved ones and finds her life transformed once more by the magic of her cherished Cucina.
Exuberant and touching, La Cucina is a magical evocation of lifes mysterious seasons and the treasures found in each one. It celebrates family, food, passion, and the eternal rapture of romance.

Five Quarters of an Orange by Joanne Harris

Returning to the small Loire village of her childhood, Framboise Dartigen is relived when no one recognizes her. Decades earlier, during the German occupation, her family was driven away because of a tragedy that still haunts the town. Framboise has come back to run a little cafe serving the recipes her mother recorded in a scrapbook. But when her cooking receives national attention, her anonymity begins to shatter. Seeking answers, Framboise begins to see ther her mother's scrapbook is more than it seems. Hidden among the recipes for crepes and liquors are clues that will lead Framboise to the truth of long ago.

Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Greeted as "an amazement of riches ... few readers will be able to resist" by The New York Times, Chocolat is an enchanting novel about a small French town turned upside down by the arrival of a bewitching chocolate confectioner, Vianne Rocher, and her spirited young daughter.
Author Bio: Joanne Harris was born in her grandparents' candy shop in France and is the great-granddaughter of a woman known locally as a witch and a healer. Half-French, half-English, she teaches French at a school in Northern England.

The Girl with no Shadow by Joanne Harris (sequel to Chocolat)

Since she was a little girl, the wind has dictated every move Vianne Rocher has made, buffeting her from the small French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes to the crowded streets of Paris. Cloaked in a new identity, that of widow Yanne Charbonneau, she opens a chocolaterie on a small Montmartre street, determined to still the wind at last and keep her daughters, Anouk and baby Rosette, safe.
Her new home above the chocolate shop offers calm and quiet; no red sachets by the door; no sparks of magic fill the air. Conformity brings with it anonymity—and peace. There is even Thierry, the stolid businessman who wants to care for Yanne and the children. On the cusp of adolescence, an increasingly rebellious Anouk does not understand. But soon the weathervane turns . . . and into their lives blows the charming, enigmatic—and devious—Zozie de l'Alba. And everything begins to change.

The Food of Love, Anthony Capella

"She had never eaten food like this before. No: she had never eaten before." And that's just the first of 22-year-old Laura Patterson's gustatory epiphanies in Rome, where she has come to study art history. Handsome Tomasso seduces her with succulent baby artichokes and frothy zabagliones, but what the reader knows and Laura doesn't is that Tomasso is a waiter. The creator of the rapturous meals is his best friend, Bruno, who has a big nose, a poet's soul and a mad passion for Laura. Capella's spin on Cyrano is his debut novel, but his sentences are as expert as Bruno's sauces, and he serves up a brilliant meal of soothing predictabilities punctuated by surprises. Secondary characters are fully realized, especially earthy Benedetta, Bruno's truffle country consolation until she urges him to follow his heart back to Laura. The cooking lesson e-mails at the end of the book are like a second glass of grappa, too much of a good thing, but Capella is deservedly the subject of buzz in the food world. This is a foodie treat.

A Debt to Pleasure, John Lancaster

A gorgeous, dark, and sensuous book that is part cookbook, part novel, part eccentric philosophical treatise, reminiscent of perhaps the greatest of all books on food, Jean-Anthelme Brillat Savarin's The Physiology of Taste. Join Tarquin Winot as he embarks on a journey of the senses, regaling us with his wickedly funny, poisonously opinionated meditations on everything from the erotics of dislike to the psychology of a menu, from the perverse history of the peach to the brutalization of the palate, from cheese as "the corpse of milk" to the binding action of blood.

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

2008-10-15T11:15:00.001-07:00

"Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle, she comes and goes as she pleases so that one is never sure whether she will come at all, nor for how long she will stay."

The first two sentences of this 1956 book set the mood and gives a nod as to why this novel was such a blockbuster yet at the same time labeled as sleazy and low brow literature. The story of Peyton Place is one of lies, deception, rumor, hypocrisy, social & class privilege, adultery, repression and the dirty little secrets, both open and hidden, of a New England small town. The main story follows the lives of 3 women who come to terms with their identity as women is the stifling atmosphere of small town America. There's also the surrounding cast of characters who add their voice, the town's old timers, the Old Doc who is the moral beacon of the town but has his own flaws and secrets. The novel is basically a primer for every soap opera that has been or is on television today.

I told my 88yr old grandma that I was reading Peyton Place and she said that she can remember "clear as a bell" the furor and uproar that this novel caused. She said that it was the book that you talked about in whispers at dinner parties. By today's standards, Peyton Place is fairly tame but I can see why it would be banned by the Canadian government 50yrs ago.

I recommend it, it's a good retro-read.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

2008-10-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

Wilhelm is a Northwest author I enjoy. I usually read her mystery stories. She writes a lot of legal thrillers that always include talking and figuring things out over a wonderful meal. Some incredible menus and ideas for meals in her books. But, they were starting to seem like 'formula books'. So, I looked at other books she may have written and found this one. This is probably one the best novels about cloning ever written. Wilhelm wrote this book in 1976, way before we started reading about actually cloning reports in the papers. This is a story of an isolated post-holocaust community determined to preserve itself and civilization. They do this through their experiments in cloning. The book is detailed in its science and encourages a deep look at humanity.

The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

2008-10-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Always enjoy his books! The power of this novel lies in the genuine compassion that Dean Koontz exhibits through Amy (the main character) and her love for and near obsession to rescue both people and dogs from abuse and neglect. Amy Redwing operates Golden Heart, a Golden Retriever rescue service, that brings her to the home of abused housewife and mother Janet Brockman. Amy and her close friend Brian McCarthy rescue Janet, her two kids, and their retriever Nicki from Janet's abusive husband. Immediately, Amy recognizes a seemingly supernatural connection with Nicki, the golden retriever. And soon after, Amy discovers that she is being followed. Fast paced - fast read. Left me thinking about good, evil, and souls.

Into the Forest by Jean Hegland

2008-10-09T14:53:00.001-07:00

Have you ever chopped up jalapenos and felt the burn of the oil on your fingertips hours later? sometimes into the next day? This jalapeno of a book has left its mark on me and every so often the residue burns at my subconscious and I start to think about it again. I loved this book! It is not a nice story, in fact it is truly frightening in light of the times we are living in. Riane Eisler had this to say,"A work of extraordinary power, insight, and lyricism, Into the Forestis both an urgent warning and a passionate celebration of life and love." I can't say it any better. The back cover describes the story:

"Eva, eighteen, and Nell, seventeen, are sisters, adolescents on the threshold of womanhood - and for them anything should be possible. But suddenly their lives are turned upside down, their dreams pushed into the shadows, as sickness and anarchy rage across a country on the brink of collapse. In a time of suspicion and superstition, of anger, hunger, and fear, Eva and Nell are left to forage through the forest, and their past, for the keys to survival. They must blaze a new path into the future as pioneers and pilgrims - not only creatures of the new world, but creators of it. Gripping and unforgettable, Into the Forest is a passionate and poignant tale of stirring sensuality and profound inspiration - a novel that will move you and surprise you and touch you to the core."

I highly recommend this book.

Haunted by the wack-job who wrote Fight Club, Rant, Choke

2008-10-04T14:01:00.001-07:00

Think Stephen King on acid.

The BN synopsis is: Haunted is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach-churning stories. They’re told by people who have answered an ad for a writer’s retreat and unwittingly joined a “Survivor”-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight. This is one of the most disturbing and outrageous books you’ll ever read.

I agree, insanely disturbing and outrageous but I kept reading wanting to know more, wanting to know why. Since they are short stories, the reading goes along fairly sickly, I mean quickly. As I know all of you will be jumping at the chance to read this book, I'll bring it to our next meeting and make you ladies fight it out like the characters in the book.

The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer

2008-10-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

Book Club...usually the light of my month, ended up being a chore this month, another appointment in my week, a whimper at the end of my day. It was not the company, I always love seeing everyone. I just went into the meeting with a heavy sigh and a bad attitude. Not our usual pot-luck feast - we simply had wine and dessert, which by-the-way I was supposed to MAKE and ended up calling in a favor from Bethany at the last minute to pick something up for me.

The book was well-liked by everyone except me. I struggled to read this book and I struggled to put into words why I hated it so much. I am not the one who should be doing the write up on this book, I honestly welcome anyone else to do this book review justice.

After the book review and a rousing political discussion (where I had more unpopular opinions, I might add) we descended into talking about home, kids, parenting...(sigh) I come to book club to escape home, kids, parenting. I like talking about books and literature, politics and world views. I want to know what everyone else is reading? What do they want to read? I spend enough time thinking about my house, my kids, my parenting, homework, laundry - I want to expand my brain a little. Maybe it is just my stinky attitude this month, maybe I have become a complete and total book snob, maybe this climate of economic and political fear has made me really, really cranky and edgy or maybe I just really want to relax once a month and talk about the second love of my life - books. Am I way off base, what do you think?

The Invisible Wall, A Love Story That Broke Barriers

2008-09-29T17:18:00.001-07:00

This is the author's debut and he wrote it at the age of 96. It tells
the story of his youth in poverty stricken England before and during
WWI. Everybody on his street is poor, if you're Christian you work in the mill, if you're Jewish you work in the tailor shops. The Christians and Jews live on the same street but on opposite sides of the invisible wall. The only school available to the Jewish kids is a Christian school where they learn about Easter the same week they prepare for Passover at home. There's so many things gong on in this story, the mother who tries to hold the family together and dreams of going to America, and the father who drinks, gambles and is an abusive stranger to his family. Eventually, one of his older sisters falls in love with a Christian boy and the family and neighborhood fall into chaos.

This story is heartbreaking and sweet. It's both a personal memoir and a love story seen through the eyes of a young boy. The author has written a sequel, The Dream, which he wrote at the age of 97. I loaned this out to my mom, but I'll bring it when I get it back...or you can just pick it up at Target like I did.

The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg

2008-09-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of those stories that sounds so small and colorless and really depressing when trying to explain what it is about. However, this is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

From the back cover: "Bette Nolan moves to a small town after the death of her husband to try to begin anew. Pursuing a dream of a different kind of life, she is determined to find pleasure in her simple daily routines. Among those who help her in both expected and unexpected ways are the ten-year-old boy next door, three wild women friends from her college days, a twenty-year-old who is struggling to find his place in the world, and a handsome man who is ready for love.

In this rich and deeply satisfying novel, a resilient woman embarks upon an unforgettable journey of adventure, self-discovery, and renewal and comes to appreciate the solace found in ordinary pleasures."

So, it sounds awful right? This poor woman loses her soulmate and has to move on with her life. But it is not awful, it is a beautiful story about this graceful, strong woman who has promised her husband that she will live after he is gone. She isn't perfect, she is sad and grieving but little by little, day by day she enjoys whatever she can. I thought it was a remarkable, inspiring, and beautifully written story.

Out Stealing Horses

2008-09-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

This is one of those books you pick up at Costco, read the back, put it down, pick it up the next time you're there, thumb through the pages, put it down, then about your third time through at Costco, you finally put it in your basket along with the dog food and toilet paper. This book is not an easy read, but not quite as heavy as The Road that burpykitty read, think The Road "light".

BN.com says, "Out Stealing Horses...panoramic and gripping, it tells the story of Trond Sander, a sixty-seven-year-old man who has moved from the city to a remote, riverside cabin, only to have all the turbulence, grief, and overwhelming beauty of his youth come back to him one night while he's out on a walk. From the moment Trond sees a strange figure coming out of the dark behind his home, the reader is immersed in a decades-deep story of searching and loss, and in the precise, irresistible prose of a newly crowned master of fiction. "

It is beautifully written, but I was a little disappointed in the story...I felt like there was so much left to learn about the character, his father, his childhood and what happened in between. I almost want to read this again to see if I missed anything. I'll bring this along to our next meeting.

True Happiness

2008-09-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

You all know how much I like to feed people. It is one of the great pleasures of my life, feeding people good food and knowing they have enjoyed a good meal in my home.

I opened the library to students this week at school; my second home. It has been so enjoyable to watch the kids in the library and hear the comments from students and teachers. I have heard, "It looks like a real library", "Wow! They got alot of new books over the summer!", "It looks so nice in here". Today Nick's teacher told me that she is so excited about the libraries that she might be willing to give up some of her classroom collection because she knows the students would be able to find and use the books. I felt like my heart would burst from happiness. This is why I have worked so hard. The kids love the library. I have "fed" them books and knowledge in a place where they feel comfortable and happy. Does it get any better than this?

The Other

2008-09-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

I am a fan when it comes to David Guterson novels. It started with "Snow Falling on Cedars" which I think of as the Northwest's answer to "To Kill a Mockingbird". A worthy runner up in American novels about social justice. Then "East of the Mountains" told of personal explorations of life's important questions. Both thought provoking books. And now his new novel, "The Other", focuses on the common humanity in us all. A book about two teen boys who are so different but, some how find so much in common. John William Barry is the only child of a wealthy Seattle family. Neil Countryman has grown up in an extended family of Irish-American carpenters. Their meeting in the half-mile event at a high school track meet reveals a shared tendency toward earnestness and suffering. The two become friends and eventually blood brothers. But then high school ends and they choose very different paths. Neil a struggling author teaches high school English. John William renounces his wealth and lives a rugged life in the woods. But then John needs Neils help to disappear from his family. This may sound like a small quirky story but, one that questions what would you be willing to do for 'your friend/your blood brother'?

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

2008-09-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK!

I had very little expectation of liking this book because of the reviews of everyone I know who has read it, maybe that is why I was able to enjoy it. I devoured this book in 3 days. I really liked it. I remember what it was like to be a teenager and how awkward and insecure I always felt. I loved that this bubble-gum vampire series had a feel-good bubble-gum ending. I love that she married Edward and got to have her human honeymoon. I liked the twist about the baby. I was happy when she finally became a vampire - I was expecting it at the end of the 3rd book. I wanted Jacob Black to come back and I was glad when he imprinted on Renesmee so he wasn't heartbroken over Bella anymore but he still got to be a part of her family. I was especially pleased that Bella was not only beautiful but ended up being the strongest, most talented vampire in her new family.

Bella got to have her cake and eat it too in so many ways. She had Edward (the one she belonged with), she had Jake in her family, she was able to have a child, she was strong and beautiful, she even got to maintain contact with her original human family. What better ending to this teenage trilogy-plus? The teenage girl inside me rejoiced at her good fortune. Like I said, maybe I went in to it with very low expectation so I was free to just enjoy the story. But whatever the reason, I really, really liked it.

Love is a Mix Tape

2008-09-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

This was one of our finalists for our memoir month selection and I was intrigued so I went ahead and read it anyway. This may be best for somebody who is more music minded as each chapter has a list of songs from a mix tape from the authors collection. He uses these tapes as a timeline for his life, from dorky jr high dances where he made the tape for the dance, to when his wife of 5yrs suddenly dies and his grieving afterwards. In this day of ipods and cd's, I don't know if people in their 20's will appreciate the music nostalgia in this book and one of the icon's of our youth, the mix tape, that us more mature ladies would. I'll bring this along to our next meeting.